“I can’t wait until this job is over,” he mutters to himself while typing on the thin laptop on his knees. Strings of letters cover the entire screen.
“I mean, I’m not good at this electronic stuff.”
He smiles faintly, his fingertips nimbly tapping the keyboard. The letters dance across the surface.
“…But I guess this isn’t something I can let others do.” He chuckles to himself in the dim car.
“Now, will the detective agency—will Kunikida—be able to see through the smoke and mirrors and save the city of Yokohama?”
The man—Dazai—looks out the car window. The flickering city lights of Yokohama ripple over the dark billowing sea.
CHAPTER III
12th
Here at the office, the midnight oil burns until morning.
I sit before a solitary light, unable to sleep most of the evening.
The countless deaths, the people lost…
There is no difference between myself and them. Are we not all born on the same planet, only to ultimately return to the eternal heavens together in death?
O divine creator, answer me.
“Allow me to begin.”
I address the attendants sit
ting around the table. The agency’s conference room doubles as a drawing room. There are a total of seven workers present—office workers and detectives—and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say these are most of our top members. It’s extremely rare for them to gather like this. I pass out the necessary documents, then explain.
“I would like you all to refer to these documents concerning our situation. To summarize, our agency is currently being threatened. Someone has crafted a careful, devious scandal against us.”
“Yeah, the agency’s in trouble. We get it. Now get to the point and tell us about the bomb.”
One of the attendees speaks up. It’s the agency’s personal physician, Dr. Yosano.
“Very well. This is an e-mail I received from the offender. It will help profile the criminal as well, so please make sure to read it.”
Dear Sir,
I hope everyone at the Armed Detective Agency is doing well. I would first like to extend my deepest gratitude to you all for your support in investigating the abandoned building. Now, I know this is quite sudden, but I am contacting you in hopes of asking you another favor.
Only a few moments ago, we set a massive bomb somewhere in town. Therefore, for the safety of the people, I would like for you to promptly find this explosive and dispose of it. Furthermore, this bomb is set to detonate tomorrow at sundown, so I strongly urge that you solve this case before then.
This explosive we created is the same type of bomb that robbed the world of over one hundred precious lives during a certain incident in the past. What a horrendous event that was. The everlasting flames and blinding corona made it seem as if the sun itself had fallen out of the sky. The buildings fell one after another while innocent people’s skin melted as they struggled to escape. The ground liquefied, and vehicles were knocked into the buildings like spears. I could describe it only as hell on earth. That is why I beg that your agency makes their best effort to prevent something like that from ever happening in Yokohama.
While I understand that this goes without saying, we shall be recording your agency’s efforts just like last time. Please note that if you unfortunately fail to disarm the bomb, we will once again release the footage to the public.
With best wishes to you, I pray for your health and success.
Yours sincerely,
The Azure Apostle
“…What kind of sick person writes a thing like that?” Dr. Yosano scoffs.
“I completely agree. It is more than evident that this so-called Azure Apostle is the one who recorded the incident at the abandoned hospital and released it to the public to tarnish our agency’s name. And now it appears they are threatening us again.”